1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to apparatus for exercising and strengthening the abdominal muscles. Particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method that enables a wide range of exercisers to perform training of the frontal and oblique abdominal muscles simultaneously and in a single fluid motion.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many exercise devices designed to strengthen or increase the flexibility of specific parts of the body. Anyone who has been in a health club knows that for any body part there are several different apparatus and exercises to choose from. Of all of the body's muscles, the abdominal muscles may be the muscle group with the largest number of devices designed to aid exercise. Abdominal muscles receive so much attention for several reasons. For example, society often promotes a slim and muscular torso as an aesthetically pleasing feature. Furthermore, having strong “core” muscles (of which the abdominal muscles are a part) aids overall health by providing stability to the body and support to the back in particular.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to train the abdominal muscles. The term “abdominal muscles” encompasses several diverse muscle groups including the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, transversus abdominis, the rectus abdominis, and the pyramidalis muscle. Isolating each muscle group can be extremely difficult and currently requires more than one exercise apparatus or exercise technique. Traditionally a person would isolate each group by repositioning the body and doing several different exercises. For example, a typical “crunch” motion where a person keeps the lower back in contact with the floor is excellent for working the rectus abdominis but does not fully engage the oblique muscles. To isolate the obliques the person may roll onto a side and then try to lift the upper torso off of the floor.
The same approach applies to apparatus assisted abdominal workouts except that a user of the apparatus has to change machines or alter the configuration of a single machine to isolate the various abdominal muscle groups. One example of such a machine is discussed in U.S. Patent Application 2006/0211549 [Nohejl]. The '549 apparatus allows a seated user to rotate the upper torso and the legs toward one another in a typical “crunch” motion while added resistance is applied to either or both of those rotative movements. This motion isolates the rectus abdominis muscles as discussed above.
The '549 device also represents a typical apparatus utilized to engage the oblique abdominal muscles. In the case of the '549 device, the seat portion may be rotated to either side of center by a few degrees and fixed in place with a pin. The portion of the apparatus engaging the upper body remains in place. Moving the legs to one side in the '549 device mimics the positioning of a crunch done on the floor when person rolls to one side and helps isolate the oblique abdominal muscles. However, the user is limited in the ability to transition from one abdominal group to the next. To exercise all abdominal muscle groups a user must choose a muscle group, adjust the machine, exercise, stop, readjust the machine, exercise, stop, readjust the machine, etc., etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,507,191 [Zachary] is representative of another type of device that incorporates rotational movement of upper and lower body to exercise abdominal muscles. The '191 device is limited in that although it allows movement of the upper and lower body, it only allows for rotation about a single axis—an axis generally longitudinal to the body. Other devices such as those discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,297,095 [Zachary], 6,602,171[Tsen et al], and 6,248,047 [Abdo] all provide for rotative movement of one body part (typically the upper body) while maintaining the other part (typically the lower torso or legs) in a fixed position.
The devices discussed above and other known devices all fail to allow a person to smoothly transition from one exercise targeting one abdominal muscle group to another exercise or motion that targets a separate abdominal muscle group. These devices either limit a user to abdominal rotation about a single axis at any given point in time or only allow one portion of the body (e.g., upper torso) to move while holding the other portion (e.g., lower body or legs) stationary. These limitations reduce the efficiency of an abdominal workout by restricting range of motion of the abdominal muscles and/or requiring additional time to readjust the device to target a separate group of muscles.
What is needed is an exercise device that provides a user with the ability to make a seamless transition between movements designed to target individual abdominal muscle groups. The device should allow independent and simultaneous movement of both the upper body and the lower body about two or more axes or planes. The device should also provide means of selectively increasing resistance to abdominal movement depending upon the strength of the user.